Lucknow, May 18 (IANS): After initiating the legwork for opening an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)-like institute in Rae Bareilly, the parliamentary constituency of Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Uttar Pradesh has requested New Delhi to open three more such institutes in the state.

Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, in a letter to union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, has underlined the need for such multi-speciality hospitals in Poorvanchal, Bundelkhand and Ruhelkhand, citing urgency for quality healthcare facilities for the poor in these backward regions.

With an AIIMS-like institute coming up in Rae Bareilly, around 75 km from the state capital, the central region will have a second super-speciality hospital after the Sanjay Gandhi Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI) in Lucknow - while other regions will continue to suffer from lack of proper medicare facilities, the letter points out.

Yadav in his letter says that keeping in mind the distance of these areas from Lucknow and Rae Bareilly, it will be prudent that such hospitals be also opened in the three regions of the state.

The state government is already in the process of identifying land for the multi-speciality hospital in Rae Bareilly and as soon as it is done, the union health ministry will be informed to start the work on the hospital, the letter says.